"...Fuck."

Van took a 2nd look to see if he was hallucinating. But alas, his little brother was currently waving to everyone present. He looked towards where Charlotte and the others were, only to see Charlotte and Dionysus laughing and toasting with each other. Artemis, on the other hand, was completely blocking her with a leaf that came from the vines.

​​

[Summon Aegis]

Van once again summoned his new shield, trying to cover his butt.

"It is quite alright, King Evans," Athena said before she once again started taking off her clothes, "I am immune to the guiles and seduction of the flesh, your nudity means nothing to me."

"Please stop undressing," Van quickly said before Athena could unbutton her brassiere. He then let out a sigh before roots started growing around him, creating some sort of armor that perfectly lined up on his body similar to what Artemis was wearing. He didn't stop there, however, he even covered his head, somewhat imitating the shape of what the chopper pilot was wearing, with only his eyes uncovered.

"Very well," Athena tapped the end of the shaft of her spear 3 times on the ground again before pointing it towards Van, "Come at me with all you got, King Evans. For that is the only way you're even going to have a chance to hit me."

"Hm," Van did not really take any offense with Athena's words, rather, he let out a long and deep breath before the streaks of lightning focused around his feet, once again creating a sort of wing that spanned almost 3 meters.

"The maximum speed you had earlier was at 5200 meters per second. You are perhaps the fastest being on this planet, but not even close enough to what your father could do," Athena said, "Do you think you can go faster?"

"I honestly do not know, Miss Athena," Van shook his head before he kneeled on the ground, "I honestly don't know anything about my powers."

As soon as he said that, a thunderous noise once again echoed throughout the field as a large crevice was opened up from where Van was standing. But even with his increased speed, it was still the same scenario. For whatever reason, Athena was either blocking or dodging all of his attacks. If one were to look from afar, it was already as if Van had multiplied, surrounding Athena with several of his clones due to his speed.

Unlike Charlotte, whose eyes were closed when she was fighting with Van, Athena had her eyes wide open, not quite following all of his movements, but enough to know where Van's attack would hit.

"Is your speed as well as the control of the souls the only thing you inherited from your parents?" Athena said calmly as she dodged and blocked Van's barrage of attacks that almost seemed like the droplets of a heavy rain, countless and all falling at the same time, "I would understand if only Hermes had powers, but your mother is also a god. Couldn't you have inherited something from her as well?"

Athena then let go of her spear, letting Van have the chance for his shield to slam Athena's body almost 20 meters away.

"Gah!"

However, it was Van that let out a pained scream as his leg was completely penetrated by Athena's spear. How did that even happen? Did Athena manage to kick her spear while she was being slammed by the shield?

"I have gauged your speed, King Evans," Athena said as she raised her hand, causing the shield that was penetrated in Van's leg to tremble… and fly back towards her. Van didn't let up, however, as he threw Aegis at the same time the spear flew, hitting it just before Athena could catch it.

"Kh," Athena could not help but let out a slight groan as the spear deviated from its original path and straight towards her unguarded shoulder. Athena was about to pull it out, but Van pushed the spear deeper into her by hammering it with his shield.

Before Athena could recover, Van grabbed the spear that was still going through her and forcefully pulled it faster, slightly causing Athena's body to be dragged with it. Van then used this momentum to carry Athena and violently spin his body to slam her to the ground.

The ground was as if water, rippling as soon as Athena's body made contact with it, but before the ground could fully react, Van was already far away, watching it open up a small crater.

Van let out a long and deep breath as he held both the shield and the spear that was now with him tightly. And before the dust could even clear, he once again rushed to where Athena was. Van let out a wide smile as the tip of the spear was only a few inches away from piercing Athena's head.

"Wrong move."

"Wo!"

But alas, before the spear could pierce Athena's head, the spear that Van was tightly holding slightly deviated to the left. And now, instead of the spear, it was his own head that threatened to make contact with Athena's head.

Due to how sudden it was, the only thing that Van could do was grit his teeth. Athena, on the other hand, still had an arrogant smile on her face as the already charred wood helmet that Van made completely disintegrated as it slowly made contact with her head.

Van had already noticed it before, but Athena's head seemed to be harder than most, from headbutting Artemis, to crushing Dionysus's hand with her forehead. And he was right, even with only a few millimeters from their skin touching, Athena slightly moved her head back.

But since Van had already predicted this, he quickly wrapped his arms around Athena's head, not letting her have the breadth to gain enough distance for her to strike again. Van used his full strength to make sure that their heads were locked together, even vibrating his hands.

But as they say, in a fast battle, it was inevitable that something unpredictable could happen. What more if it was a battle as fast-paced as this?

And so, an unpredictable thing did happen.

"!!!"

Van and Athena's lips touched.

"Hm!?" Athena's eyes widened in shock from this sudden development as her whole body seemed to have slightly softened up. Van slightly let go of Athena's head, but when he saw that this made Athena completely put her guard down, he once again held Athena's head, now by her cheeks, and proceeded to kiss her even… deeper.

"Hmm!?" With this sudden unexpected attack, Athena's legs almost became noodles as they instantly gave out, causing the two of them to stumble with Van on top of her. Seeing that Athena was now out of breath, Van let out a smile as he once again grabbed the spear that fell to the ground and pointed its tip on her neck; it even hissed as Van was using his hands to cause it to vibrate.

Van then let out a slight but deep chuckle as he looked straight at Athena's eyes, "Yield."

Athena's eyes, however, were still lost as they looked all over the place uncontrollably, almost in rhythm to the stuttered beatings of her chest.

"I suppose you're not so immune to it after all?" Van let out a huge breath as he threw the spear to the side and proceeded to sit beside the perplexed Athena, "A strength could also be a weakness in some cases, thank you for teaching me that, Miss Athena."

"It's not like this was a competition or anything," Van continued to talk even as he recovered his breaths, "But I won, right?"

Van then slightly touched his lips, which were slightly bleeding from the first contact.

"You did."

Surprisingly, Athena's voice was calm as she sat up, "Doing everything you could to win, even at the expense of humiliating… and taking advantage of your ally. You truly are an Olympian, King Evans."

"...But we were opponents earlier," Van blinked his eyes a couple of times.

"My lips have never touched another before. Even with Aphrodite's influence, never once did I give it to anyone," Athena's voice… was still oddly calm.

"I have fought in countless wars, surrounded by the most valiant of men… yet not once did I have thoughts of giving up. And just because of a practice match…

...my chastity has been forsaken."

"...Isn't that overreacting a little bit?"

"You would not understand!" And then, all of a sudden, Athena screamed as she looked straight into Van's eyes, "A child whose chastity was taken by his own father could never understand the value of…"

However, before Athena could finish her words, she looked to the side and bit her lips, "Forgive me, my king. I was out of line."

Van didn't seem to mind Athena's words as he just let out a long and deep sigh as he stood up.

"It's alright," Van said as he offered his hand to Athena, "I don't know what you really went through, and you don't know what I really went through. Let's just forget that it happened, it's what I did to survive from it."

Although Van said this, he still thought that Athena truly was overreacting.

"I apologize as well," Van said as soon as Athena grabbed her hand.

"No, it is as I said earlier, you did what you had to win," Athena smiled, "I may have not done the same, but I applaud you for noticing my weakness at that single moment."

"But if you wish…" Van did not let go of Athena's hand, "I…

...could take responsibility?"